Intern Intros: Sumayya Usmani

Sumayya Usmani and Fatima Sal get to know each other.

Sumayya Usmani is the RCRD Writing Intern. Sumayya is a 1st year Creative Writing DFA (Doctorate of Fine Arts) candidate. She is working with Dr. Rachel Chin and helps with the Write of Spring Festival, the PGR Blog, the and other RCRD writing related events.

Where did you grow up? Tell us about your hometown and childhood memories. My hometown is Karachi, Pakistan, a port city by the Arabian Sea. I grew up in the South of the country so most of the year it’s hot! My best childhood memories include spending summers climbing mango trees in the morning and eating fruit in the afternoons in an air-conditioned room while reading books. I moved to the UK about nineteen years ago and I miss all the seasonal fruit and vegetables in Pakistan the most! With mangoes and guavas in the summer, to sweet pomegranates and oranges in the winter.

Growing up, I remember the day felt longer than it does here. Maybe when you grow older life feels a lot faster! Food was a big part of my childhood and my adulthood in Pakistan, and I miss spending time with family around the dinner table.

Pakistan is a liberal Muslim country, but there are still some expectations from women, such as behaving like a ‘good girl’ in public and maintaining ‘a good reputation’ and this was particularly challenging for me as I was a free-spirited child! Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed my life there.

Karachi is a city of diverse people. After the partition of India in 1947, most Muslim migrants from India moved to Karachi, which at that time was the newly formed capital of Pakistan. Islamabad is the capital now, but Karachi remains a financial and commercial hub, which makes it a vibrant city.

For now, Britian is home. I have lived in London for ten years and now Scotland for nine years!

That sounds amazing. What sparked your interest in pursuing a PhD? I returned to education after 25 years in 2023! I used to be a lawyer and practiced for twelve years. I left law to become a food writer in 2011 and have since written three award-winning books - two cookbooks and one food memoir. I completed my master's in creative writing at Glasgow University last year. I wanted to explore identity through culinary legacies and that inspired me to do the PhD. I am doing the Doctor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. My thesis is a fiction novel (my first novel!) which explores the way oral recipe sharing through women helped maintain a link to original homelands after Partition.

try my nihari recipe!

Was there a specific moment or influence that led you down this path? After writing about food and culture for so long, I found myself wanting to delve deeper into how food and identity are intertwined. Since my parents were migrants from India to Pakistan in 1947, I’ve always longed to learn more about how my ancestral cooking and culture are so deeply intertwined with Northern India. I've never been there, but this research might take me there and help me understand my roots better.

What gets you excited about your field? Food is more than just mere sustenance. Cooking, recipes and food are a part of our intimate culture. Recipes are a form of histography, helping map migration, identity and socio-pollical changes of communities over generations.

What do you like to do when you are not researching? Listening to music is a big part of my life. I wake up and put on classical music and then throughout the day listen to rock, jazz, qawwali and other South Asian music, and indie rock. I do yoga regularly and have a personal trainer at the gym. I enjoy nature and I absolutely love solitude! I really like to be on my own with my own thoughts, and I like to journal every day.

What drew you to this internship programme specifically, and what do you hope to gain from this experience? I was looking to work in an environment where I could learn more about what goes on behind the scenes in a university, especially for the development of researchers. I've changed careers a few times in my life, and at this point in my life this internship offers a way into the academic world which is where I see my future.

What is your favourite place to write? Generally, I like to sit at my desk at home! I love to surround myself with incense, candles, vintage books and sit by natural light!